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Vibram CEO Resigns

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We rarely cover business news, but a press release this afternoon caught our attention. Vibram USA Inc.‘s President and CEO, Tony Post, has announced he will resign next month.

Post led Vibram for 11 years, most significantly through the launch and subsequent immense success of the company’s FiveFingers shoe line. The press materials state that under Post’s leadership, the Vibram USA business grew “nearly fifty-fold.” That’s a hellavu lot of toe-shoes!

Tony Post and a Vibram FiveFingers shoe

We’ve known Post for a few years, and he long ago passionately convinced us to try running in FiveFingers. At the time, about six years ago, like most runners, we were stunned that people might actually choose to run (on pavement even!) in such minimalist footwear.

Little did we know, VFF shoes would soon be one of the most notable footwear stories of the decade.

Said Post about his resignation, “This was not an easy decision for me to make.” Vibram’s current Chief Operating Officer, Mike Gionfriddo, will assume relevant leadership responsibilities and become President and CEO in July.

VFF shoe

Gionfriddo is quoted in the material saying that Post, at a time when few believed in Vibram FiveFingers, had “articulated a vision, created belief, and empowered a team to build a successful industry-changing category.”

Post closed in a quote saying, “I’m now looking forward to the next adventure.” We have no further details on why he has resigned. But we won’t be surprised to see Post pop up somewhere significant in the outdoors or footwear industry sometime soon.

—Stephen Regenold

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Stephen Regenold is Founder and Editor-In-Chief of GearJunkie, which he launched as a nationally-syndicated newspaper column in 2002. As a journalist and writer, Regenold has covered the outdoors industry for nearly two decades, including as a correspondent for the New York Times. A father of four small kids, Regenold and his wife live in Minneapolis.